i think romney is ahead in the race in the national race. i think he is within striking distance of the 270 eelectoral votes he needs, and the areas of the country where he made the greatest gains, when you compare him with the showing of john mccain tw 2008, appears to be a affluent suburbs. once upon a time affluent suburbs were solid republican territory, george h.w. bush in 1988 got big margins and carried states like michigan, ohio, california, in the four suburban counties outside philadelphia, he got 61% of the vote. zeroed out the democratic margin in the city of philadelphia. if you look at over the last 20 years, there's been a democratic trend in the affluent suburbs, and so president barack obama carried those four counties in pennsylvania with 57% of the vote if he carried the state. mitt romney grew up in bloomfield hills. >> a suburb of detroit. >> well, i grew up in the same area, went to the same high school so i'm quite familiar with it. he seems to be doing better. i if you look at the battleground poll -- the pew research